


Love Like Firelight

by Regency



Category: The Bletchley Circle: San Francisco (TV)
Genre: F/F, Ficlet, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-01
Updated: 2020-10-01
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:41:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 802
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26757442
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Regency/pseuds/Regency
Summary: Millie makes an unusual purchase with Jean in mind.
Relationships: Millie Harcourt/Jean McBrian
Comments: 3
Kudos: 26





	Love Like Firelight

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Kayryn](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kayryn/gifts).



> Inspired by this adorable Foxes in Love [comic](https://foxes-in-love.tumblr.com/post/630650887865516032).
> 
> For Kayryn, who is always getting me into things <.<

Millie returned home after a day of shopping to find Jean poring over a book of cyphers. Their latest case wasn't anything complicated, but it would do to pass the time. A series of bank robberies undertaken by thieves who thought themselves masterminds. Jean was looking into the matter a favor to Olivia, who'd become a de facto member of their mystery-solving circle over their time in San Francisco. Millie had been happy to leave her to it.

She was feeling restless and needed to get out of the house. She'd picked up a new set of gloves and treated herself to new hat. She'd even found Jean a scarf she thought the other woman might enjoy. Jean did love her creature comforts. It was only on the way home that she'd stopped in the little curio shop not far from the department store Millie had visited.

It held the usual curiosities, the lost and forgotten odds and ends of life. Clothes from a bygone era gathering dust, reeking faintly of mothballs. Cracked baseball gloves and dented brass instruments. A gramophone in near-mint condition. And then the lamp.

It held pride of place on a display table, chock-a-block with kerosene lamps and candelabra without the customary white stick candles. At first Millie had mistaken the illuminated lamp in question for a lantern, but that didn't quite fit. A petrol lantern would have been a hazard and the shop was otherwise well maintained. It was only when Millie found the switch that she realized the lamp was a simple light made to emulate a lamp. _How novel_ , she thought. 

She bought it on impulse.

"You won't believe what I've bought," she opened with as she set her packages inside the house following her trip. Jean removed her glasses reluctantly to rub her eyes. "The entire women's apparel section at Bloomingdale's?"

"Very funny," she replied. "But no. Just a few necessary items" 

Jean merely raised her eyebrows. "I can't wait to see." She sighed. "It isn't as though I'm getting anywhere with this cypher."

"Oh, put it aside. I think the banking industry will survive another looting."

She brought out the hefty gift box the shop owner had used to pack the lamp. Jean rose to help her, her expression one of reluctant interest. That interest heightened when Millie revealed her most peculiar purchase. 

"What is that?"

"You'll see." Millie set about attaching the lamp to the nearest electrical plug. Thankfully it didn't turn on right away. All the better to maintain the illusion. "Give me a moment."

"Should I be worried?" 

"About me? Always."

"When am I not," Jean muttered loud enough to hear.

Millie moved her packages aside and made for the light switch. "I'm going to turn down the lights. I think you'll love this." 

"If this is some kind of incendiary device-" 

"I'm irreverent, not suicidal!" She picked her away across the mostly dark room to Jean's side. Their arms brushed as she reached for the lamp's switch. Despite her reservations she had Jean's complete attention. "Watch this." She flipped the switch.

The center of the room was suddenly awash in orange-ish red light. Like a flame banked in glass, reflecting over the table and the ceiling and the walls. Jean's soft gasp brought a smile to Millie's face. The light danced over her hands and her face, its reflection a dancing spark in her dark eyes.

She leaned in close. "That's lovely. Where on earth did you find it?"

"A curio shop. I don't remember the name." No, she'd never forget it or the look of wonder in Jean's eyes. The smile turning up the corner's of Jean's mouth. "I could take you." 

Jean looked up her and her smile widened as it never did for anyone else. "I think you'd better. You might actually bring home fireworks next time."

Millie huffed, only half indignant. "You blow up one tea kettle and you're marked for life."

Jean cast her eyes back to the lamp. "It has the flicker of a lantern flame." She let her fingers just touch the glass globe encasing the light source. "It's warm like fire, too." She hummed in curiosity and Millie half suspected she'd dismantle the lamp to learn its secrets the minute her back was turned, but she decided it would be worth it to sate Jean's need for knowledge. Anything would be. "It's beautiful," Jean said at last, seeming content to go without knowing for now.

"I've never seen a sight quite so beautiful." Jean looked at her askance. Millie remained transfixed by the errant firelight dancing across Jean's cheek, her neck. 

"You aren't even looking." 

Millie tipped her head fondly. She'd seen all she needed to see. "I wanted to see you looking at it." She smiled. "I was right: Beautiful." 


End file.
